You can do this trip by air but driving through the desert and watching the sun rise is something special. You start from Aswan in a convoy with about 100 other vehicles and drive at hectic pace for 3 hours to Abu Simbel where the temples are superb. We would have liked a bit more time at AB aprox 90 mins but this is due to the scheduling of the convoys not a restriction by the tour operator. South Sinai tours are very good indeed, we did 4 others with them.